Pedestrian Bridge Collapse Near FIU,Multiple Fatalities (Parkland: lawyers, school)

[arekusu]

While the stress test theory has not yet been confirmed, media were asking about this during the press conference which means there may be some truth to this. Individuals who were in the area when this occurred have posted on twitter saying they saw either something drop from one of the cranes working on the bridge, or something "snap."

[BeachBum87]

This catastrophe hit a bit close to home. I used to date a Brazilian woman who worked at FIU so by off chance I texted her to see if she was all right and she told me her office was right across the bridge, overlooking the whole thing. She was fine though.

Her exact words were "Here looks like a sub developed country". Keep in mind she's from Brazil. I joked that this is Miami, and the workers were probably drunk but she responded angrily that many of the contractors here have fake papers and she knew just one from Brazil.

[arekusu]

ABC10 just stated they spoke to a worker who was working on the bridge that a stress test was being conducted, and something went horribly wrong.

Edit: Good info being stated on ABC10 right now. Representative stated the bridge was still in the hands of the workers. It had not been handed over to FIU yet.

[Pincho-toot]

From what I heard this happened while they were doing construction ON the bridge. What I wanna know is why 8th street was not closed off. This was a hazard from the get go.

[arekusu]

Originally Posted by BadgerFilms

From what I heard this happened while they were doing construction ON the bridge. What I wanna know is why 8th street was not closed off. This was a hazard from the get go.

Agreed. Gross negligence. The only silver lining here is that the students at FIU were on spring break.
Also that we just hit daylight savings time which will provide extra hours of sunlight during their search for any survivors.

K9 search & rescue is on the scene now.

[SanyBelle]

Is that an actual picture of the bridge or just a rendering of it from Curbed Miami?

[CXT2000]

First off, condolences to those lost, and my thoughts to those injured. I've had friends and family attend FIU, and still do. I love the campus and this one hits home hard.

With that said, it's just typical Miami for them to do a stress test in the middle of the day without any precautions. Second, for it to fail a stress test shows how weak the structure was. I was looking at where the structure was made, and it said Miami, we know Miami is notorious for its cheap concrete. Regardless, this incident boils my blood and hits close to home.

[Cuca Racha]

Taxpayers will pay the families for their losses and no one will go to jail. Some companies will change their names so they can keep their government contracts. A political donation here and there will keep them safe. No one will care about this incident in a few months except for those who lost their loved ones.

Same old.

[AnnRyan]

Originally Posted by BadgerFilms

From what I heard this happened while they were doing construction ON the bridge. What I wanna know is why 8th street was not closed off. This was a hazard from the get go.

It is pretty normal for work to be done overhead while traffic is passing underneath... provided that adequate safety measures are used. Remember that they built the new 826/836 interchange while traffic passed underneath without a major incident.

However, if they were doing STRESS testing and the bridge had only been in place since Saturday... that seems a bit much. Simple enough to do that between 10 pm and 4 am when they could have more easily closed the streets.

[cfbs2691]

Originally Posted by Cuca Racha

Taxpayers will pay the families for their losses and no one will go to jail. Some companies will change their names so they can keep their government contracts. A political donation here and there will keep them safe. No one will care about this incident in a few months except for those who lost their loved ones.

Same old.

Sadly you are exactly right.